Dani Ardor

Before the events in Sweden, Dani's sister Terri commits a murder suicide, killing herself and their parents via car exhaust. Dani becomes traumatized and distraught after the event, further straining her relationship with her boyfriend Christian Hughes, who is emotionally distant, and wants to end their relationship. The following summer, Dani still deals with the death of her family, and learns that Christian and his friends, Mark and Josh are going to Sweden with their friend Pelle, who has invited them to attend a midsummer celebration.

Dani wasn't informed of the trip, and Christian reluctantly allows her to come, much to Mark and Josh's annoyance. There, Dani's trauma reaches a high point, as the cult makes her drink psychedelics, and she later participates in the maypole competition. Dani wins the competition, and is crowned the May Queen, and later sees Christian having sex with Maja. Dani suffers from another panic attack upon this discovery, but is comforted by the Hårga women as they wail with her in empathy.

Towards the final act of the film, the pagan cult makes the decision to sacrifice four individuals, who will all die from being burned in the yellow building seen throughout the film. Among the four is Christian. Before the group proceeds with the killings, they ask Dani whether or not they should sacrifice Christian. Although hesitant, she ultimately agrees to go forward with this after seeing him have sex with Maja, having become bitter and heartbroken.

Christian is stuffed into a disemboweled bear and placed in the designated temple, alongside the still-living Ingemar, a second villager, and the ritualistically-prepared corpses of Josh, Mark, Simon, Connie, and the two elders. The temple is burned in an effort to purge the cult's evil. As the cult celebrates the completion of their ritual, Dani sobs in horror, but gradually begins to smile.

Q.V. Hough of Screen Rant said "Midsommar reinvents the modern scream queen through Florence Pugh's multi-layered performance as Dani Ardor", and praised the character's complexity.[3] Tilt Magazine's Caitlin Marceau said that Ardor is the second greatest feminist icon in horror, stating

"While this might make it seem like Dani is a character that just happens to be in a feminist narrative, her choice at the end of the film solidifies her iconic status with audiences."[4]

Singer Ariana Grande has also shown fondness for the film and the character of Dani Ardor, as seen in several of her Instagram posts as well as in her 2020 concert film Excuse Me, I Love You.[5][6][7]

• Gender in horror films